On the latest episode of the Last Word on Spurs podcast, Ricky Sacks, Jamie Brown, Abbi Summers, and guest Aaron Paul discussed Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Manchester United last Friday, whilst also looking forward to Tuesday’s fixture against West Ham.
During the episode, which is titled, ‘Typical Tottenham‘, the quartet offer their thoughts on Spurs’ draw with Manchester United from last week, before looking ahead to Tuesday’s game against the Hammers. One point of focus was Jose Mourinho’s perceived lack of substitutions against his old side, with the Portuguese coach opting to make just two subs in the 90 minutes, despite the recently introduced rule that allows for five per game.
This led to a discussion of the 57-year-old manager, with Summers offering her thoughts on his appointment, following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino earlier in the season: (22:18)
“I believe that Daniel Levy saw an opportunity, he was going to get rid of ‘Poch’ regardless, he was never going to back him anymore. So he saw the opportunity, Jose was available, he thought, ‘oh, this will work for me.’ You bring in a name like that, his resume speaks for itself. For Jose, it is realistically his last big chance at a Premier League big club at that top table. So for him, it is like, ‘okay, I’m going to take a whack at it.’ They haven’t won anything. So realistically, if I don’t win them anything. Haven’t really lost anything because no manager before that, bar Ramos, has done that in the last 15/20 years or so. It worked for him, for Daniel he’s taken a punt on it thinking well, it’s Mourinho, we’ll have a go, but there’s no transfer budget.”
TIF Thoughts…
To suggest that Pochettino was going to be sacked regardless, despite taking Spurs to the Champions League final the previous season, seems like a bold claim. However, it cannot be denied that the Argentinian manager struggled to do the business he wanted to do in the summer transfer window, which perhaps led to the poor start to the season that ultimately saw him sacked in November last year.
Do you agree that Pochettino was always likely to be sacked once Mourinho was available?
Yes
No
Mourinho has, of course, been a serial winner during his career so far, so we can see why Levy might have been desperate to bring the Portuguese manager in to try and elevate Spurs to the next level, considering the Lilywhites’ last major trophy came in the form of a League Cup win in 2008 under Juande Ramos (per BBC). This season certainly hasn’t gone to plan for the 57-year-old, with the North London club knocked out of both the FA Cup and Champions League during his tenure, but perhaps next season we will see Spurs challenging for trophies.